This invention relates to light safety assembly for footwear, and more specifically to roller skates with built-in lights for night use.
The development of highly practical and maneuverable inline roller skates that very closely mimic the feel and responsiveness of ice skates as contributed to a phenomenal increase in the popularity of this sporting implement. Adolescents and even adults are seen roller skating along roadways and on sidewalks at all hours of the day and night. Safety concerns have led to the addition of reflective patches and even light assemblies to roller skates. Lights can be incorporated in the original design of the skates as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,164 McInerney et al. The prior art also has provided light assemblies which can be added to existing skates as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,329 Stiles; U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,149 Moore; U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,515 Beard; U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,026 Holbrook; U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,971 Madden.
Those add-on light assemblies tend to be complex, difficult to install, and particularly unattractive. Furthermore, in most cases, they place the lights and activating switches in areas of the skates where they are very likely to be subject to damaging impacts by rocks, sidewalk curbs and other such hazards. There is a need for a new type of add-on lighting assemblies for skates that can be manufactured very economically, is practical to use and maintain, rugged, protected against damaging impacts, and inconspicuously blends with the general design of the skate in order to maintain a pleasant aesthetic appearance.
The principal and secondary objects of this invention are to provide a lighting assembly that is inexpensive to manufacture, and can be quickly incorporated between the boot, and the ground-contacting structure of the skate, be it a blade for contact with ice, a set of rollers, or any other low friction structure for supporting contact with a ground surface. These and other valuable objects are achieved by providing a light assembly in the shape of an insert whose outline follows closely the contour of the skate boot and has light fixtures mounted in both the rounded front tip and rounded heel. The light fixture at the heel portion of the skate acts as a toggle switch which can be activated by gently tapping the heel against a solid surface.